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Up First from NPR

Russia Rejects Peace Proposal, Hegseth Defends Boat Strikes, Tennessee House Election

Up First from NPR

NPR

Daily News, News

4.552.8K Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A five-hour meeting between Vladimir Putin and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff ends without a breakthrough, as the Kremlin rejects key parts of the updated Ukraine peace plan.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shifts his account of the U.S. strike on an alleged drug boat, saying he didn’t order the second, lethal attack as lawmakers press for answers.
And a special House election in deep-red Tennessee district tightened far more than expected, offering both parties clues about voter energy heading into the 2026 midterms.

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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Rebecca Rossman, Jason Breslow, Megan Pratz, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.

It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.

We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.

Our Supervising Producer is Michael Lipkin.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Did you actually say good morning yesterday?

0:02.1

I did just because Layla constantly wants one, so I figured on giving Tuesday would be the best day to do it. Well, hold on. I want to hear this before we, I want to hear how this went. Good morning, Leila. What? Did you just say good morning? Yeah, it's getting Tuesday. I figured I'd give you a good morning. Thank you, and I'm glad you remember. Congratulations. You did it. I did it, I think, hopefully, sarcastically.

0:24.4

I hope everyone. Thank you, and I'm glad you remember. Congratulations.

0:21.9

You did it.

0:22.6

I did it.

0:24.4

I think hopefully sarcastically.

0:24.7

Yes. Yes.

0:25.6

Yes.

0:26.2

It was nice.

0:27.4

Good morning.

0:29.4

I could hear the eye roll.

0:32.7

So that was giving Tuesday for you.

0:34.5

Yes.

0:34.9

handing out good mornings all over the world. That's what I did.

0:38.4

Congratulations. Well done. So let's think of this now as giving Wednesday. It is not too late

0:44.3

to support up first and everything that you love from NPR News. Yeah, and we're also thinking up

0:48.9

first listeners who have already stepped up to donate. Listeners just like Lauren in Maryland.

0:53.4

Lauren says, I listen to a burst every morning.

0:55.8

Public radio connects so much of our country to the news they need, and I can't imagine

1:00.6

losing it.

1:01.3

Thank you for your resilience through this challenging time.

1:04.3

Losing it.

...

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